This invention relates in general to chairs and seats and deals more particularly with a folding tablet arm attachment for a folding chair having a ganging feature.
Folding chairs of the type with which the present invention is concerned are often employed in auditoriums, gymnasiums, school classrooms and other places of assembly where temporary row seating or flexibility of seating arrangement is desired. When a relatively large number of people must be accommodated it may be necessary to couple together or gang chairs to form rows of connected chairs in compliance with fire codes. However, in situations where fewer persons are to be seated, individual placement of chairs in spaced apart relation to each other may be permissible. In such situations it is often desirable to provide each person with a working or writing surface, as, for example, where the chairs are set up in a lecture hall and those in attendance may wish to take notes, or where the chairs are to be used in a school classroom in the administration of a test or examination and the provision of a writing surface is essential.
Accordingly, it is the general aim of the present invention to provide an improved tablet arm attachment for a folding chair having a ganging feature to increase the versatility of the chair and enable the chair to be readily adapted to satisfy diverse seating requirements. It is a further aim of the present invention to provide an improved folding tablet arm attachment for a folding chair having a ganging feature and which enables the tablet arm attachment to be secured to and removed from the chair with minimal required labor.
In accordance with the present invention, a tablet arm attachment is provided for a folding chair having a chair frame including a pair of elongated side members and ganging means, including male and female ganging elements associated with the side members for coupling engagement with other ganging elements on chairs of like kind. The tablet arm attachment comprises a tablet arm having a substantially planar working or writing surface, an elongated attaching member, supporting means for mounting the tablet arm on the attaching member, and releasable attaching means for positioning and supporting the tablet arm attachment on an associated one of the side members and including a male ganging element carried by one of the members which comprise the attaching member and the associated one of the side members and a female ganging element carried by the other of the members which comprise the attaching member and the associated one of the side members.